URI

Abstract

Native languages are acquired in emotionally rich contexts, whereas foreign languages are typically
acquired in emotionally neutral academic environments. As a consequence of this difference, it has been
suggested that bilinguals’ emotional reactivity in foreign-language contexts is reduced as compared with
native language contexts. In the current study, we investigated whether this emotional distance associated
with foreign languages could modulate automatic responses to self-related linguistic stimuli. Self-related
stimuli enhance performance by boosting memory, speed, and accuracy as compared with stimuli
unrelated to the self (the so-called self-bias effect). We explored whether this effect depends on the
language context by comparing self-biases in a native and a foreign language. Two experiments were
conducted with native Spanish speakers with a high level of English proficiency in which they were asked
to complete a perceptual matching task during which they associated simple geometric shapes (circles,
squares, and triangles) with the labels “you,” “friend,” and “other” either in their native or foreign
language. Results showed a robust asymmetry in the self-bias in the native- and foreign-language
contexts: A larger self-bias was found in the native than in the foreign language. An additional control
experiment demonstrated that the same materials administered to a group of native English speakers
yielded robust self-bias effects that were comparable in magnitude to the ones obtained with the Spanish
speakers when tested in their native language (but not in their foreign language). We suggest that the
emotional distance evoked by the foreign-language contexts caused these differential effects across
language contexts. These results demonstrate that the foreign-language effects are pervasive enough to
affect automatic stages of emotional processing.